Category Archives: Everyday

Wow have I ever been busy. I went to church camp 2 weeks ago and then last week was our vacation week and we were just running around trying to get as much done as possible while my husband was home. We did get the gates up on the garden fence, we got a run built for one of the breeding pens and finally got the pool cleaned and swim ready. The garden has really started to take off. I am coming in every night with a basketful of tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, squash and zucchini. My crispers in the fridge are full now. I will be making pickles and homemade salsa this weekend. After I get our family stocked up I will be hopefully selling a bunch.

We have also had a lot of chicks hatch in the last few weeks. I think we had a total of 20 or so at one time, but for some reason most of the chicks hatched last week died. I really don’t know what went wrong. I also had 4 hatch in the last 24 hours with 4 more pipped. I set another 3 dozen for a late July hatch. I am still trying to get my brown eggs to hatch. For some reason I haven’t had any hatch out of those eggs yet, when I candle them they all look good, with veining and movement, but then when they go to lock down they don’t go any farther. I’m hoping for better luck on this hatch because at least 1 has already pipped. I can’t wait to see what it will look like.

I hope everyone is having a great summer and trying to stay cool.Here’s to happy harvesting!!!!!

This is my harvest from yesterday. Not bad for 1 day this early in the season.

What a great day. It’s gonna be another scorcher though. It’s really hard to get garden work done when it is so hot, but things gotta be done right? Yesterday, Hubby and I stacked up several more tomato plants, they are getting huge already and we have tons of green maters just waiting to turn red,or yellow. I also potted up about a dozen to sit around the yard and on the porch. I planted another dozen or so the other day in the garden. I also pulled all the broccoli out,it was starting to send up flower shoots, go make room later for more cabbage and lettuce, for a fall crop. My peas and squash plants are also taking off like crazy. I figure I am going to have quite and few things to sell in a few weeks. I am going to church camp next week as a counselor, and I am hoping things will be ready to go by the time I get back. It’s going to be hard leaving for camp this year. With the chickens and this huge garden, I just hope the boys and Nick can keep up with everything that needs to be done. Silly me wasn’t thinking and I have about 20 eggs that are supposed to hatch on Monday. Yep the day I leave. Duhh….. I am going to have to teach the boys and Nick what to do with the new chicks (if any hatch) and stuff. I’m just going to have to trust them. The boys are actually on a mission trip till Thursday, so all the teaching will have to be done over the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed all goes well.

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. Psalm 62:5

Another busy weekend down and now another start to a busy week. We had a great weekend. Got most of the fence up around our garden and I just saw that our peas are starting to grow pods. I believe we will have peas in a week. Yummy!! I have sugar snap and early peas growing. I just hope we have enough so that I can freeze them so they will last longer than last year.

We had some awesome arrivals this weekend! 5 of the 7 eggs I had in the incubator hactched and now we have 5 new silky chicks. They are the cutest little things. I was so nervous Saturday night I almost couldn’t sleep, but alas they finally started hatching at 5 am. It’s just like new babies to come in the wee hours of the morning. I have another 20 in the incubator with a hatch date of June 9 and another 22 with a hatch date of June 22 and Scarlett, my Silky hen is sitting on 6 eggs right now with a hatch date of June 16, which is just 2 days after my sons 15th birthday. I think I have caught the hatching bug or something. I plan to set 12 eggs almost every week. That way I can have some newbies every week or so.

I did have 3 eggs that didn’t hatch and I am planning on doing eggtopsies on them later today. I want to know at what stage the embryo stopped developing or if their was an embryo at all. This is all very new to me and it is all a very big learning process. But I feel that a 80% hatch rate on my first hatch is not bad at all.

What is going to be hard is parting with them after I have hatched them, but that is why I am doing this. I just have to stop naming them I guess. I do however want to build up my stock with chicks that I know where they are coming from, so I will be keeping some from every hatch. But selling a bunch too. 😦

Busy,busy,busy. What can I say. Having over 50 chickens, and a huge garden takes a lot of work and not too much computer time. I have been working really hard to get the last of the garden planted. I planted about 25 cucumber and pickle plants yesterday, along with all my assorted squash and melons. Today I plan on getting the corn and beans in the ground. We finally got our pool open so maybe after I get done with all that work I will just jump in. It’s been pretty hot the last few days. It’s supposed to rain today, so I might be repotting all my tomato plants instead. Today is the kids last day of school. Yippy, now maybe I can get a little help around here. My kids are really great about helping out (as long as they get some free time too), which makes it great. They understand that it takes the whole family to make a homestead run smoothly. I am hoping that I am teaching my children how to be more self sufficient and how to use the land the way God intended for us to do.

Well I have 8 eggs that went into lock down this morning. I am so hoping to get at least a few new chicks out of this batch of eggs, even just 1 would give me hope. I got a new incubator and egg turner this week, so I am hoping to have the most optimal hatching rates soon.

Keep us in your prayers for a great hatch Saturday!!!! ❤

Great is the Lord. He is most worthy of Praise! No one can measure his greatness. Psalm 145:3

What a crazy busy weekend. What can I say. Friday night we went back to Dinky’s and I got 12 new laying hens and 4 new baby silky chicks that are approx. 5 weeks old. I call them the Fantastic 4, because they never want to be a apart. If one gets lost or left behind it will let out it’s distress call until the others find it or it finds them. It is really kinda cute the way they stick together. The other chickens I got are all laying hens. I got 8 RIR crosses, 1 easter egger (Patty), 1 Golden laced Wyandott (Goldie), 1 Buff Orpington (Buffy), and 1 Speckeld Sussex (Heidi). They are all great and friendly birds and don’t seem too timid at all. Some will even come up to me, and several have come pecking at the back door like they want to come in or something. ANd most of them are laying eggs daily. I should be able to actually start selling some eggs soon.

Foghorn, my young White Leghorn started crowing over the weekend, which I thought was pretty cool. I can tell it’s him too, because it’s still kinda weak and he doesn’t do it very often yet. I got rid of Harry, the little bantam rooster (the bully), and things have quieted down so much. He would crow all day and get the others crowing too. Now Peta is the one who crows the most, but only for a little while and maybe a few times in the evening. It’s not an all day thing with him. I think it’s because they all know now that he is top ROOSTER! so they don’t even bother too much. I do have to say that the backyard is quite nosie in the mornings now though because of the girls. They cackle and make noise for most of the morning. Come afternoon though they all quiet down and it seems quite peaceful.

Because of the new hens, Nick had to make a new roosting box. It’s very simple, and I made nesting boxes for them, that way they can just roam the backyard. They really like it under the back deck too, but they haven’t laid any eggs under there yet.

I also got 41 pepper plants and 20 strawberry plants in the ground this weekend. Today I am going to work on the cucumbers and squash. I am also going to plant a few cantalop for my father in law and sister in law, found out over the weekend they love it and I have tons of those seeds, who knows maybe I will even be able to get my kids to eat them.

I hope everyone has a great day, it’s sure to be a busy one.

The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time. Psalm 34:19

I must say that I am super excited. I harvested all my lettuces, collards and other greens last night, and man did I get a lot. I started out with my usual garden basket and ended up having to use the wheelbarrow. It took me most of the night just to get it all washed off. Today I am going to bag it all up and get it ready to sell this weekend. Hopefully at the Farmer’s Market and in my front yard. I am also going to try and get some tomatoes ready to go for sale. I need to make some $$$$, We are going to Dinky’s tonight. I’m hoping we can find some stuff to help with all the coops we are building, I would also like to get just a few more laying hens. I’m thinking of taking a few of the ones I bought a few weeks ago back and trying to resale them. Bella, unfortunately hasn’t laid a single egg for us in 2 weeks, I’m thinking she might just be old. and Harry, the little banty rooster is just plain annoying and he is a bully to the other birds.I’ve read that it is best to just get rid of the bullies and things will calm down. I guess we will just have to see…..

I seriously can not believe May is almost over. This month has just about flown by. All the Chickie babies are growing and getting big. I figure we might get some eggs from some by July. Here’s to keeping my fingers crossed. I decided to do things a bit differently this morning. i went out and opened all the coops and let everyone out to do their morning foraging. I am going to be taking out their food and water soon. I cleaned all the feeders and waterers last night, they were starting to get pretty nasty. I did this so that I could get back in and have my breakfast. I have been waiting until I got everyone else feed to sit down and eat myself and between feeding and watering and doing other chores I wasn’t getting to eat till 10:00 am. I know that might not sound like a big deal, but by then it’s almost lunch time and I leave most days at 11:30 for work.

I moved the bars outside today. They were just stinking up the bathroom way to much. They all have their feathers now so I’m pretty sure they will be okay. And since the weather is on the upturn in temps I’m not to worried about them. I moved the chicks into the bathroom and I am going to be getting the brooder box ready just in case we hatch a chick this weekend. I’m a little optimistic about that. The temp in the homemade bator went up to 110 last night for some reason and I accidentally cracked one of the eggs, but just barely. I guess we will just have to wait and see. This is my first hatch, so I am giving myself a break. I’m really hoping the next one goes better. I would really love to have some chicks that I know where they come from and who the parents are. My silky’s are going to make beautiful babies.

“I am the way,the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

It has been a busy few days on the homestead. Nick finished the second coop yesterday. It’s for Elvis, I’m going to call it the “Jungle Room”. Cause you never know who is going to end up in there with him. I was thinking of putting him with Scarlett for a little while. I think a polish/silky cross would be pretty and interesting. I set another 20 eggs in the incubator last night, 2 off the eggs go into lock-down tonight with hatch day being set for Sat. and then the 8 other eggs go into lock-down next Thursday. I’m kinda hoping to keep it going like a revolving door, because I don’t know how many eggs will actually hatch. I am trying to build up a stock, so I can have more birds, more birds, means more eggs. 🙂 It also means more work, but I can deal with that. The kids will be out of school soon and then I can get some help around here. Duty calls….. Have a great day.